Session A2 - Degenerate Gases.
INVITED session, Monday morning, March 22
517B, Palais des Congres
It is shown that spin-dependent optical lattices allow to realize an atomic quantum dot, where single atoms are stored in a tight trap and are coupled to a superfluid reservoir via laser transitions. Quantum interference between the collisional interactions with the condensate and the laser induced coupling to its phase fluctuations results in a tunable coupling of the dot to a dissipative reservoir, allowing an essentially perfect decoupling from the environment. In the case of a one-dimensional condensate, a dissipative phase transition occurs to a state with a frozen occupation number of the dot. In addition several dots may be coupled via strong, long range Casimir type forces, opening possibilities for quantum gate operations.